Payments Perspectives Blog

The Last Days of Swipe and Sign

Habits can be hard to break, but sometimes they’re necessary. Towards the end of 2015, U.S. consumers will end the familiar habit of swiping when paying by credit or debit card, and instead we’ll be dipping a chip-enabled card. Just like today, sometimes we’ll be asked for our PIN, sometimes to sign or, for very small transactions, asked for nothing, but in all cases our transactions will be more secure. The issue of EMV payments, as this new system is known, has been in the news lately, but it’s not a new topic by any means.

I spoke with the Wall Street Journal last week about what this means, and where U.S. issuers and marketers go from here. There are certainly a number of questions, but what we do know is that the next year will be a transformational one for issuers and merchants in America.